Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death
by Makiko Igami
Summary: Complete! On the island of Atlantis an exslave who's to marry his exmaster's daughter Relena meets somebody who he was to meet by destiny... AUish, Yaoi, angst.
1. Prologue

_It is said that underneath the isle of Atlantis a beast is sleeping. A beast that could destroy everything that is on the piece of rock it's inhabitants call earth._

_The wrath of this beast is uncontrollable._

_Nobody can tame it._

_The only hope of those who know this legend is the lost child of the God and the Goddess. With its ability to bring out the true self of people it may be able to lull the beast back to sleep..._


	2. Market Day

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 1/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive: ...   
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Notes: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on... 

"..." spoken words  
*...* emphasis  
{...} Author's comments  
_______________________________________________________________________

Heero glared at the merchant he was bargaining with.

"These eggs are old, even a baka like you should see that!"

"But syr," The merchant said with a slimy smile, bowing deep. "I took them just this morning from underneath the hen that lay them. Fifty Nailsen for one of these beauties is an appropriate price, don't you think so?"

Heero growled and tried to hold back any comment on how inappropriate this usury was. He looked around, checking if anybody in this crowded place was looking at them, but as he expected, nobody was paying attention to them, they had better things to do like taking care of their own business.

With another growl he grabbed the merchant's simple tunic at his throat, and pulled him close, glaring him straight into his face.

"I *think* that I will tell these Temple-guards over there that you charge prices that are overly expensive. You *do* know what they will do with people who charge overly expensive fees?"

The poor merchant's eyes widened in fear, knowing that he would be thrown to the dungeons which would be flooded twice a day with the tide as they were below sea level. Heero smirked in satisfaction but didn't let got of the man's tunic and twisted his fist a little bit more

. 

"Alright! 30 Nailsen!!!"

Heero growled once again and twisted his fist a bit more.

"20!! But that's my last word!"

Raising an eyebrow, Heero whispered in a deadpan voice, "Oh, I'll make sure it will be..."

"10!!!"

Heero let go of the man's collar all of a sudden, all threat vanished from his face.

"I'll take thirty, then."

He looked away and batted his hands free of non-existent dirt from the man's tunic and waved to one of his servants to come over and fetch the eggs he had just purchased. He counted 3 Erui into the merchant's greedy hands and waved casually before he turned around once again.

"It was nice to do business with you."

The merchant bowed respectfully, grim eyes but the slimy smile back in place. The moment Heero was out of hearing range he spat out, "Bastard!"

Unfortunately for him, Heero's ears were a bit better than those of average people. He well heard the silent curse, chose to ignore it though. He got what he wanted and for a very good price, way below standard, so he granted this moron his time to swear. If he needed it...

His special abilities were also responsible for who he was.

Just because he heard the muffled cries of somebody drowning he was suddenly engaged to the daughter of his former master, now his future father-in-law. Thus he was made to delegate people that did his former job. He wasn't even sure if this was an advantage.

Relena was a nice girl and he could tell she liked him but he felt not much for her. He didn't feel much at all. But being part of an influential family, having the chance to say something in their business was better than being a mere servant of said family. At least he still had his friends.

As if on clue, Trowa nudged his elbow in his side.

"Oh, Mr. Relena Peacecraft likes threatening poor merchants to get eggs below the standard price? Heero, I never thought you could fall so low."

"Trowa. Shut up."

Trowa smiled, one eye hidden behind his thick bang that stick up against all laws of gravity that the High Priests shared with the people. He was the only one that could get away with this simple comment on such an insulting sentence. Despite the fact that Heero had been a servant once, even more a slave than free, didn't prevent him from developing a very heated temperament. And being freed after rescuing this girl meant for him that he could show this temper whenever he liked to. Trowa loaded the palette of eggs to the little cart he was pulling behind him, filled with various vegetables, some fish and fowls. They even got some beef from the continent today.

It wasn't usual for Atlantis to have meat. The small island didn't have enough space to provide meadows for cattle. Some people said it was enough for them to eat fish, but whenever there was a new shipment of meat, the same people would run to the markets and buy it as if they would die if they didn't.

Atlantis had some fields of crop though, and the best bakeries in the world. Everybody on the continent craved for the special Atlantean Bread, a specialty everywhere. In exchange for this and other handcrafted things the Atlanteans got meat, wood and stones, which they used to build the most magnificent buildings in the world. The few trees that had managed to grow on this small island a long time ago were chopped down as soon as Atlantis had figured out how to build ships and sent sailors out to determine if there were other creatures like them behind the big water that surrounded them.

It wasn't long until the first adventurers returned with the happy news that there was a much bigger land that almost surrounded them. They also reported that there was a small passage in this land around their sea that led into a much bigger sea.

More sailors were sent out to explore this bigger sea but for a long time nothing was heard from them.

People prayed to Taiyou and Hisakata, the God and the Goddess that had once lived on the high mountain in the middle of Atlantis that they were safe and after two months one single battered ship was lucky to make it back home. The crew told the ones at home about the wonders they had met on the other side of this big sea and how hard it was for them to make their way over there. They encountered various monsters and had to sail through the most outrageous storms. Most of them didn't survive it.

But since the day that Taiyou and Hisakata had brought the craftiest people to Atlantis to teach them their technology, the Atlanteans didn't give up this easily. They created better ships with reinforced hulls that would withstand those dangers more easily than the ones they used to travel the small sea surrounding their island.

Over the years though the knowledge that was given to the people by the Gods before they went back to their home in the stars was long forgotten and the technology that was brought to them was said to be magic. Nowadays only the High Priest and the disciples of the Temple knew how to repair the devices that opened doors without anybody touching them, the ones that made rooms lighten up when you stepped into them and all those other strange things that happened in Atlantis.

People say that the God and the Goddess still visited the High Priest once in a while but High Priest Zechs knew nothing of that. His predecessor had always said how nice and merciful the God and the Goddess were when they came down from the stars to talk to him but when he had died he had confessed to Zechs that he had never seen them in person. He just heard from his predecessor what they had been like.

Right now Zechs was sitting in his study, leaning over his desk, staring at the window-like glass in it. Well, he was rather staring at the luminescent signs on it. He was totally terrified by what he read there, the certainty that the days of Atlantis would be over in less than a year and this time there was no device from the Gods that would rescue them.

Somehow even the Gods were unable when it came to the uncontrollable powers that this savage planet bore. The beast inside has slept too long.

Zechs straightened with a sigh, long platinum hair falling back over his shoulders and turned the device in his desk off. He stood a few moments in complete darkness before he turned around and opened the heavy curtains that prohibited the sunlight to come in.

He was greeted with the sight of the circular city's Northern Side, the Inner and the Outer Channel that separated the Inner Circle with the Temple and the Palace from Uptown and Uptown from Downtown. It was a bright sunny day and you could hear the gulls in the harbor on the South Side screeching as they fought for the remnants of fish from this morning's catch.

Zechs didn't show the slightest hint of emotion on his face. All he could see was a city that was damned to vanish in the waves of the ocean surrounding it in less than a year.

He turned around and called his assistant Noin to arrange a meeting with Shuhan Treize for him, no matter if he wanted to see that man again or not.

But instead of a woman with short violet hair he was greeted by a young man with very short black, curly hair.

"Sir, Miss Noin is at the Peacecraft's house, educating the only daughter in the ways of the Temple. But if you wish, I can arrange this meeting for you. In fact, Shuhan Treize is impatient to see you again," he said quietly.

Zechs nodded. He should have known where Noin was at this time of the day. She wanted to spread the knowledge of the Temple to the people in the city. She hated the fact that everybody had ascribed scientific devices to be magic and made it her duty to travel around to teach stuff that you were only supposed to know when you gave yourself freely to serve at the temple. Zechs had allowed her to do this because the temple desperately needed new disciples. People nowadays were somehow scared by the preconditions that were posed. Or they thought they were ridiculous.

One precondition to enter the temple's services was that you were a virgin, in body and soul. But recently they had to make exceptions to that. People didn't know what to be virgin meant anymore.

Zechs himself knew for sure he was no virgin anymore.

But he had lost his virginity when he was already the High Priest and nothing had changed for him since then. So he supposed this rule was only to get the young ones and the frustrated into the Temple at a certain time in history.

But then again... There were certain rituals for which you had to be pure...

Zechs shook this thought away as if he was trying to get some flea out of his shoulder-length hair, not noticing how the young man's jaw dropped open in awe.

.oOo.

Meanwhile Heero was bargaining with another poor merchant, this time about some vegetables of which you could make a powder that was ingredient of one of the sweetest sweets on Earth. The Atlanteans had found it on one of their travels over the ocean, the big one behind the continent that surrounded Atlantis. They had a colony on the continent over there and regular supply of exotic fruits, manufacturing them into products that were highly craved at their continent.

This particular sweet, called "cocoa" was one of those.

Especially young women paid the most outrageous fees to obtain what was a called a "bar of chocolate". They kept saying that it made them happy. Well, most of them just got fat but they didn't seem to notice so it was rather likely for this dark brown mass to make happy.

Trowa watched how Heero lost his temper once again and threatened the poor woman with a deadly glare as he suddenly noticed some movement to his left.

He shrugged it off since things like that happened every day on the main market place of Easter Uptown. It was probably just another thief who didn't get away with his loot without being noticed.

He shrugged and focused his gaze on Heero again.

"Those fruits traveled three weeks over the big water and you want to tell me those are fresh? I've never heard such a brazen statement. Do you know what happens to liars nowadays?"

Trowa sighed. He knew Heero liked to threaten people but couldn't he use another line each time he did that?

But in the end this bad tempered young man got what he wanted and nodded to Trowa to come and fetch the cocoa-fruits which he purchased for a song. Trowa nodded apologetically towards the poor woman, trying to find a place for the fruits on the jammed wagon. The woman glared though, unhappy that she had lost to such an inexperienced-looking boy.

Said boy was looking rather happy now as he strode through the crowd, halting for a second in the middle of a rather deserted place, waiting for Trowa to catch up with him.

But Trowa was much too busy to balance the fruits on top of all the things they had bought earlier. One more item and everything would crash down, plastered to the cobblestone pavement in less than a second.

Heero watched him fighting with the wagon for a moment before he looked up into the sky, cherishing one of the first bright days of a seemingly nice year with a lot days like this.

"Excuse me."

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder. Heero turned around to see who it was, a grumpy comment on his lips, but he didn't even get as far as to let them slip off.

Instead his lips were sealed.

Whoever had tapped him on the shoulder cupped his face and pulled him into a kiss faster than he could have reacted.

He blinked several times, eyes about to fall out of their sockets while his mind processed that this was his first kiss. As he checked who it was he was greeted with a face framed by long chestnut bangs, hair floating all over her back in chestnut-colored waves. But the most incredible things about this face were the eyes.

Determined dark blue eyes, shimmering with the slightest violet possible to still look natural, fluttered shut at this particular moment with a slight groan.

The person kissing him wrapped one of her arms around his neck, the other hand in his hair, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss as it got incredibly quiet around them. If this was because people started staring at them or because Heero just didn't pay attention to it anymore, he couldn't tell. He wasn't even aware how he closed his eyes as he felt the other person pant onto his lips.

Slowly his arms rose to wrap themselves around the other's waist, to pull her closer, to feel her entirely. Never before had he had the urge to feel somebody as close as this long-haired beauty. But before their chests could touch the girl broke the kiss, smiled at him and whispered, "Thank you", before disappearing in the crowd again.

Heero tried to make out the waving chestnut mass of hair but all he could see were moving people that minded their own businesses but none of them looked like the person who had just kissed him on the lips as if he was the air she needed to breathe.

Slowly he touched his own now slightly swollen lips with his fingers, still staring off to the distance, not noticing how people were rushing around him.

"You're welcome..."

_To be continued..._  
_______________________________________________________________________

I SO wanna do something like that! Just walk up to some stranger and kiss him fully on the lips, but I am HELL to shy to do that...  
Oh... ^^;; Please Read & Review!


	3. After the Kiss

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 2/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive: ...   
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing.  
Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
About this slave-matter... I don't plan to make being a slave something people want to be, just something necessary. And those slaves will be treated with respect, they have their duties and that's it. 'Slave' is just the name for a kind of servant.  
And I am happy to hear that I'm not the only one who wants to do something like what happened to Heero.  
Oh and another thing!  
*chuckles* You know... I'm sorry that I posted this on 2x1ML... It's going to be a 1x2 in the end, so... I'm not going to publish many more chapters here... _ ... _ That means... if you don't want me to... ^^;; 

"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
*...* emphasis  
{...} Author's comments  
_______________________________________________________________________

Duo crossed another corner and hid in a dark alleyway, his long hair between his fingers as he rebraided it quickly, panting frantically from the chase through half Atlantis.

"Man! I really hope she's not trying to bug me anymore..."

He chanced a glance out of the alleyway, sticking his head out casually, just to see a girl with short blue hair passing by, looking as if she was searching for something.

'Oh, Shit!'

Or rather somebody.

Certain somebody hid deeper in the shadows now, praying to the God and the Goddess that she would not notice him, that she would not look into this particular alley and if she did, he hoped that she thought it wasn't worth taking a closer look at.

The Gods were with him and as she had disappeared somewhere else, he sighed and slumped down, knees drawn to his chest, face hidden in the crooks of his elbows, hands buried in his long chestnut-colored hair.

"DAMN!"

The day had started so nicely. He woke up in some bed, and this alone was a reason for a whole week of celebration. Usually Duo lived on the streets and slept in some empty houses downtown, where it was even too poor for the poor people. He was happy whenever he found a blanket or something on which he could sleep.

But this day he woke up in a bright room with sunlight tickling his nose, on a very soft and clean bed. He had stretched and yawned and then realized that there was somebody else in this bed. His first reaction was to turn around and shrug it off.

He got up some time later and went to get some breakfast and everything would have been fine, if this woman hadn't mentioned that he deserved something better and that he would get it if he just stayed with her.

As her slave.

And that was the point where Duo decided that he wanted to get out of this house as soon as possible, a nice warm bed and food didn't matter.

He was living on the streets but still he was free. And that was nothing that he would give up so easily. He felt that one day the person would come for whom he would give up anything, his freedom, his life, whatever; but this girl ? what was her name? Oh yes, Hilde ? was certainly *not* this particular one.

So he fled.

That was one of the things he was good in, running away. And hiding. And ? damn! ? did he have to do that a lot!

He wasn't a thief, not really, he just took an apple or a piece of bread whenever he needed one and nobody was in range he could use his charms on to make him or her buy it for him. Even somebody like him who was used to survive days without food needed nutrition from time to time!

Sighing again, Duo picked himself up from the ground. He needed somebody to talk to.

Right now.

.oOo.

"Yo, Q-man! I didn't know you were here!"

The blond-haired creature with soft turquoise eyes turned around from where he was supposed to be looking straight at his mistress with all the other slaves that were following her. Immediately he recognized the person in the crowd who was talking to him and smiled. He slowed down a bit, carefully that nobody noticed how he let himself drop behind the others and disappeared in the hidden passage where a chestnut braid had disappeared a few seconds ago.

"Duo! It's you! I though you were in the other corner of the city!"

Duo smirked self-confidently and put his hands on his hips.

"Things turned out to be different in the end. You know, this chick I met..."

Quatre sighed inwardly and already knew where this conversation was heading. Duo was about to say that he fell in love with her, that he found his niche in life and that he was going to marry her. Like the other twenty-seven times before.

In the end he had disappeared from all of them because they `weren't his type´. Quatre was slightly surprised that there were still people that didn't know the grinning young man in front of him.

"...and then I kissed him."

'...Him?'

Quatre blinked and stared at his friend in surprise.

"Duo, I seem to have missed something. I thought you were talking about a woman?"

"Ne Quatre, do you even *listen* to what I say?" Duo sighed, rubbing his temples absent-mindedly. "I just told you how I escaped from her house when she wanted me to be her slave and how she was chasing me around on the big market place!"

"Oh."

Quatre managed to look sheepish and excusatory at the same time. Duo sighed again, looking at his longest and best friend forgivingly. He knew the blonde knew his stories almost better than he did, but this time something new happened.

"Anyways I turned around, telling her I already belonged to somebody else, but well, she didn't believe me. Heh, who would after *that* kind of night..."

He grinned and watched how a blush graced Quatre's pale cheeks as he was fidgeting where he stood.

"Duo... just go on with the story, will you? I don't need the details of that *night*..."

Laughing, Duo patted him on the shoulder.

"Quatre, has anybody told you that you're cute when you're feeling uncomfortable like this?"

"Yes, you," Quatre said, glaring slightly. "Don't try that again, you know it's not going to work!"

"Oh, Q-tip. You sure you don't want even the smallest kiss from Mr-I-could-get-them-all-I'm-just-to-lazy-to-ask-them?"

"No!"

Duo laughed even harder then. "Quatre, you're even cuter when you fume like this. No surprise this chick keeps you on such a short leash."

This time Quatre's glare was real, and Duo decided that this would be the perfect moment to get back to his story and to stop flirting with the blond slave.

"Erm... well... uh... I pointed to somebody in the crowd and said that this was the one I'm in love with and that she was really just a nice distraction for one night, which made her kinda furious, and slapped me right into the face, saying that if I were in love with him, I had to kiss him as a prove. She said his reaction would be proof enough for her."

Quatre blinked surprised.

"Him?"

Duo turned away and sighed.

"Yeah, *him*. I had pointed to some random person in the crowd, remember?"

Quatre blinked again, and nodded slowly. He knew that Duo hit on men sometimes, too, when he was in desperate need of food and money, but usually he went out for women.

"And well, it wasn't even a bad choice, you know? Lean muscles, an almost melancholic romantic look on his face as he was staring up to the sky as if he was waiting for somebody... Damn, I still can't believe how *gorgeous* he looked while Taiyou was playing with the color of his hair! If I didn't know any better I'd say he was the lost son of Taiyou and Hisakata! But why would the son of the God and the Goddess stand in midst the most crowded place of Atlantis just to stare at the clouds?"

Quatre sighed. This legend was really getting to Duo. The lost son of Taiyou and Hisakata who is said to wander around Atlantis like a mere mortal just as Duo and Quatre; he really wanted to meet him.

"So what? Did you walk up to him, tap him on the shoulder, saying 'Excuse me' and kiss him, or what?"

He could see how Duo's jaw literally dropped to the floor.

"Who told you?!"

"YOU DID?!?"

"Er, well... sorta..."

Duo grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, right at the base of his braid. He sighed out loudly before he continued to talk.

"I... tugged at the ribbon on the end of my hair, making it fall loose around my shoulder and hoped that he would mistake me for a girl, THEN did I tap him on the shoulder, said 'Excuse me' and kissed him on the lips." He chuckled. "You should have seen his face! He looked like this was his first kiss! Blue eyes as dark as the sky shortly after sunset..."

His eyes were getting all dreamy again, cheeks a bit redder than usual and Quatre was about to tell him to hurry up, since he couldn't stay away from his master for too long but he was happy that his friend had had so much fun kissing a complete stranger.

'... ookay... this is strange, Quatre, and you know that. ... But it's Duo, so maybe it's not *that* strange at all.'

"I'm pretty sure he thought I was a girl. I don't think he would have tried to wrap his arms around a *man*!"

"And what did you do then?"

All self-confident now again, Duo grinned.

"I made sure Hilde had seen the show, whispered 'Thank you' and disappeared in the crowd again. I'm sure that guy doesn't know *now* what came over him."

.oOo.

In fact Heero would still be standing at this place on Easter Uptown's market place if Trowa hadn't hurried over to him, yelling something that he didn't understand.

"Trowa, who was that girl?"

He saw Trowa's visible eye blink in surprise.

"That's exactly what I just asked *you*! *You* kissed her, no *I*! Usually you know people before you kiss them!"

Heero glared at his best friend.

"Well, I'm sorry, but she didn't introduce herself, she just kissed me!"

Nobody noticed it, but on a nearby counter that sold glass jewelry, one especially nice looking necklace of dark violet pearls suddenly exploded into thousand little pieces. The merchant who sold them just looked irritated at the shards and brushed them off the table.

Meanwhile Trowa and Heero were still arguing.

"So *if* you didn't know her then would you have the mercy to tell a simple servant-slave like I am, why did you wrap your arms around her?"

Heero glared some more.

"Because I liked it? Because it was my first kiss? Because my body did what it wanted to do? I have *no* idea, Trowa!"

Trowa glared back at his best friend before his eyes narrowed.

"You like her."

"Yes!"

Heero was just as surprised as Trowa by this growled answer. He didn't even notice that he had said it. He just heard the word when it slipped over his lips.

All anger suddenly vanished from his face and was replaced by complete puzzlement.

"I... I mean..."

"Heero, it's too late. You confessed and I heard it. There's nothing that can make me forget it."

Trowa smiled to himself and turned away, resuming to pull the wagon back home.

"Trowa, I... I need to see her again."

"Well, there are just about one million people here on Atlantis, do you think you even have the *slightest* chance of finding her?"

Just seeing the determined look in Heero's usually cold and emotionless eyes made him shiver slightly. The sound of something breaking into thousand little pieces seemed more than just coincidal.

"I *will* see her again."

Trowa was shivering in fear by now. Heero was never so determined before. Not even when he bargained with the most stubborn merchant in all Atlantis.

To his left the poor merchant started screaming as she noticed that *all* of her fake jewelry was shattered into thousand little pieces.

"Okay..."

.oOo.

"Duo, are you sure about this? I mean, you just moved out of this girl's house and she seemed to be very nice..."

Duo snorted.

"Yeah, for a slave merchant! Look, I was really overwhelmed by this bed, but I would *never* let myself made a slave just because of a soft bed!"

Quatre sighed.

"Look, I didn't mean *that*. I meant, are you sure you want to go to that club tonight?"

"Of course! I need a new source of income! And there's no better place for finding one like this place!"

"Okay, but I want you to take this," Quatre said and handed his best friend a few pieces of paper from the back of his belt.

Duo took the notes and stuffed them hastily into his self-sewn-looking, rather stolen white tunic's purse.

"Thanks a million, Q-man!" he said, winking as he passed his friend, heading for the crowded streets again. "And tell that bitch to go and fuck herself from time to time!"

Quatre stared at the retreating back of his friend while he dissolved into the crowd. 'She does that every night...' he thought and turned a very bright shade of red, before he hurried out of the ally himself, to catch up with the other slaves that accompanied his mistress Dorothy.

_To be continued..._  
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Next chapter... more about Zechs... and Treize ^-^ Please Read & Review!


	4. The Shuhan and the High Priest

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 3/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive: ...   
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing.  
Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...

*bows before the reader* I AM SORRY!!!  
I am most utterly sorry. I didn't mean to let you wait this long! *bows even lower*  
I've been in a slump! *hears people gaps* Yes, I have been. ;_; I'm not even sure if I'm completely over it yet, but I recovered enough to finish this chapter.  
I also did a bit of research on Atlantis and found out that I did get a LOT of things wrong. *sweatdrops* So... Don't use this story as a reference for anything historical about the Isle of Atlantis, please?  
During my slump and the reasearch I've been doing some plotting, too, and I'm quite sure now how Duo and Heero will meet again, I just need some more chapters before I can let them. ^^;;  
I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the previosu ones... And sorry again for the lag. *bows again*

"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
*...* emphasis  
{...} Author's comments  
_______________________________________________________________________

Shuhan Treize woke up when rays of the sun tickled his nose. He stirred slightly and smiled when he heard clothes rustling. Hugging the pillow he was resting on, he peeked an eye open and looked up, just to see his wife changing her clothes. She tried to be silent but even the softest fabric that was available on Atlantis made too much sound in an absolutely quiet room.

"My dear Lady..."

She turned her head sharply, just to look at him surprised. Then she turned away to fix the last strap of her tunic, smiling slightly.

"Long sleeper aren't you? The sun rose almost 4 hours ago."

"So Taiyou kissed you awake? I always thought you liked Hisakata more than him?" He smiled and got up, standing close to her back. "Though who can resist such a beauty as you are?" He brushed away her long hazel hair, kissing the exposed neck and felt her shudder.

"Treize..."

"Hm... You should stop wearing these kinds of tunics. You look too good in them. Do I have to be jealous of your soldiers?"

Lady Une turned around to look directly into her husbands face. She glared slightly. "Only if I have to be jealous of your secretary."

Treize stepped back, looking rather hurt. "My dear Une, you know that I would never be able to love any other woman than you. And you know I would never lie to you."

She glared at him a few more moments before her features became soft. She stepped forward and touched his cheek gently. "I know. It's just that I have the feeling as if you are hiding something from me. Like... you are cheating on me. But how can this be? Didn't we swear to be always truthful to each other at our bonding ceremony?"

"Yes my dear and I assure you that I never lied to you in those nine years that have passed since then," Treize mumbled against her hand, nuzzling it and kissing the palm. "Hm, you smell good... Did you use the rose-scented perfume I gave you for our anniversary?"

She smiled and let him caress her hand for a few moments before she pulled it away gently and turned around. "I always do... and you always notice." She glanced lovingly at him over her shoulder. "I have to go." And with that she exited the room.

Treize sighed and got dressed as well, bracing himself for another boring day of paper work.

.oOo.

"Miss Noin, can you tell me how this lamp works?"

Noin sighed at this nosy questions of the girl she was teaching the knowledge of the temple right now. Relena was smart and interested, but she didn't believe in the Gods as some mythical beings. She believed then to be actual persons who looked exactly like the Atlanteans. In her opinion Taiyou and Hisakata once lived and were dead now and all the magical devices that were used all around Atlantis could have been made by Atlanteans nowadays as well. Which Noin didn't believe. She knew how to repair those things like the lamp Relena was pointing to, but she could never invent something as highly advanced as this. At least she didn't believe it. She tried to smile.

"Relena, I explained it to you about twenty times yet. It's a wire that gets heated up by the electricity that's running through it."

"But where does this elec... ilac... what is it called?"

"Electricity."

"Exactly! Where does it come from?"

Noin smiled again at the girl with the flushed cheeks. She wondered how one could get so excited about something as simple as a lamp. "It comes from the big device that the God and the Goddess left in the big mountain of Atlantis. Which is powered by Tuaoi-Stones... the ones that Taiyou and Hisakata brought with them."

"Oh." Relena looked a bit disappointed. But she caught herself quickly again. "What do they look like? How does this device work? Can you show it to me one day? Please?"

Noin couldn't stop the small laughter that escaped from her lips. She had never met anyone before who was as inquisitive as Relena. "Of course, my dear. When you go and visit the temple with me one day."

The girl frowned. "But only the High Priest and the disciples of the temple are allowed to go into the temple."

Noin sighed. "Yes. And the Shuhan and his wife. It's a sacred place and we don't want anybody disturbing the peace and quiet of it." She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I know you don't want to become a disciple because you don't believe in the God and the Goddess..."

"Oh no! I do not doubt that they were once here, just like you and me, but I don't believe that they were some kind of higher beings! I think they were just like Heero and me..."

She trailed off as her voice gave in. Noin smiled sympathetically.

"You love him, don't you?"

"Yes! With all my heart!" the sand-haired girl insisted heatedly. "But he seems so cold..." she added, quieter now. "Even when he saved me and father told him he was free, I didn't see any emotion in his eyes. Sometimes I doubt that he has any emotions at all..."

Noin stood up and walked over to her, hugging her around the shoulders from behind. "He saved you. That means he cares about you in some way. And he didn't resist when your father offered you as his wife. I think he likes you, even if it is just as a friend. But don't you think that being friends is a better base to build a relationship on than silence? Or Coldness?"

She winced inwardly as she remembered that day seven years, two months and thirteen days ago, when the new High Priest Zechs, the man she had always looked up to, even as they both were just young novices of the temple, came back from his first meeting with the newly elected Shuhan Treize. The once lively young man had lost all of his mirth and looked broken. It only showed in his eyes and not to someone who didn't look closely, but being a long-time friend of the blond man with the ice-blue eyes she knew where to search for any signs of discomfort. And these signs always showed up in his now dull eyes whenever the name 'Treize' was mentioned. She wondered what had happened between them at their first encounter...

.oOo.

High Priest Zechs stood in the doorway of Shuhan Treize's office and all he wanted to do was run away. But first that wouldn't have suited the religious leader of the Atlanteans and secondly it would have shown his fear for the elected leader of the famous and peaceful island. And that was the last bit of satisfaction that Zechs wanted to give Treize.

'I've given him other bits of satisfaction," he grumbled to himself as he raised his eyes and saw the tall man sitting on his desk, reading one of the transparent sheets that were used to record transactions, news and other events. The ginger-haired man looked at it with a frown.

"Zechs, did you read that?" he asked, waving the foil towards the younger man and acknowledging his presence at the same time.

Zechs moved mechanically, wishing he didn't have to get closer to that man, but he preferred the way it was now, him standing and the other sitting. He didn't know if he would have screamed when Treize had come closer to him, with the document in his hands. He knew he would have been trapped between the slightly smaller but more powerful man and the door with no way to escape. Now he could still back away whenever they got too close.

He looked at the headline of the document that was held out before his eyes.

_'HAS THE BIEST OF THE EARTH RISEN?'_

Zechs blinked. And read it again. And after that he snatched the foil out of Atlantis' leader and read the whole article. He didn't pay attention to how the darker-haired man leaned back in his seat and watched him. Eyes as blue as the sea around the isle of Atlantis scanned over the long white tunic of the High Priest and lingered on places where he knew that plain muscles were hidden underneath the rough white linen. He loved his wife dearly and he didn't lie to her when he said that he could never love any other woman than her, but this man was different. The moment that long-haired semi-god had stepped into his office on his first day; he knew he had to make that shy but powerful man his. And that he did.

And destroyed something inside this ethereal being. The little bit that made him godlike.

Treize sighed inaudibly when his eyes finally reached the pale man's face. It was blurred in concentration while he tried to memorize every word that was written in the finest Atlantean script. Simple lines, a set of about one hundred symbols, symbolizing both abstract terms and syllables. His title, 'Shuhan', for example was a special sign of various curved lines. It was quite cute, considered to the simple way of writing it with the syllable-based font that children learned in school. He smiled contentedly when he remembered the long and tiring debates that he held with his senate about this matter. Although those men were the ten most intelligent and wisest people in Atlantis they were all quite headstrong and didn't believe that they needed a system that allowed every child to learn the everyday font of Atlantis. 'Too expensive!' 'Who should teach them? There aren't enough people who know how to teach besides those of the temple.' All very nice arguments, but Treize had an even better argument against that and in the end the money for these extra courses was sold out of the fund of Atlantis' metal-exchange. The main reason for the island's wealth. Gold, Silver and Orichalcum mines in the mountains around the beautiful city with its circular channels.

Treize sighed again, but this time audibly. Zechs shoulders jerked up and with a very high effort that made Treize smirk slightly, the platin-blond head turned around to see what was the matter.

"So, my dear High Priest, what do you think of these news?"

"Has this been published yet?"

"No..."

"Good! We have to stop every one of these news! Those would only cause a turmoil!"

Treize blinked incredulously as this usually silent man burst out fiercely, words spluttering out of him like water of a spring as if this was the end of the world. Blinking again, Treize remembered what he had read when he studied the Temple's documents.

"High Priest... I will take care of this matter myself, but what is so wrong about this? It's just a few pieces of glass that broke. Probably just because of Taiyou's heat."

"No! That isn't it! It's..."

Zechs stopped, noticing that his cheeks were flushed and that Treize was smiling at him, probably because of his pink cheeks.

"Has this to do with the reason why you wanted to see me?" Treize asked straight away and didn't even wait for an answer as he added. "You never come here on your own..."

Zechs looked away and nodded, putting the piece of paper onto the Shuhan's dark wooden desk.

"In less than a year... Shinigami will rise."

The faint smile that always graced Shuhan Treize lips, vanished at these words. He was about the only man that would shudder in fear when he heard this name, because the knowledge of this being was sealed away inside the Temple's walls.

"Shinigami... God of Death. Legends say that he alone might bring peace to the world. By death."

Zechs nodded, hearing the words he just looked up after he found out the miserable fate of Atlantis. Nothing of this knowledge ever got outside the sacred gold and silver walls of his small realm. There were about a fistful of people who knew about this legend.

"How?"

"I don't know. I just know that none of the devices that the God and the Goddess left with us would help us against those savage powers that are threatening us."

Treize nodded, staring down at the innocent piece of news that lay on his desk. And this was only the very first sign that was known of.

"What about the lost child of the God and the Goddess? Isn't it supposed to help us?"

"We don't have any clue what it might look like."

"Not even one?"

"No..."

"Then why are you still here? We need to figure this out! This matter has top priority."

Zechs resisted the urge to salute, hit his heels together and say, "Yes, sir," although he had never been in the Atlantean navy. Instead he just nodded callously and turned to leave.

He had almost escaped out of the door when he felt a soft breath in his hair. He started to shudder although everything inside him tried to resist this strange and very disturbing urge.

"I wish you'd visit me more often..."

Zechs fled out of the room before he could turn around and drown in the eyes of this powerful man, afraid that he might loose himself just like he did once before. He didn't want to admit that he wanted the ginger-haired man's touch just as much as he knew that man wanted to touch him.

He fled to the safeness of his Temple, into his rooms and started working on what he was told to do, just to distract himself from the strange and contradiction feelings inside.

_To be continued..._  
_______________________________________________________________________

O.o! Neither a bit about Heero NOR a bit about Duo... I think I'm ill. Though I am afraid... no. Neither Treize nor Zechs is anything like Heero or Duo...


	5. Second Encounter

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 4/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive:   
  
  
  
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing. Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
*grumbles* This story doesn't like me... so I shortened it. *sticks out chin proudly* Anyways, actions going to ensue a lot faster than I planned, but this way I can start on my next story... if I ever get over all those PWP-bunnies (plot-bunnies for a PWP? *frowns*) about Aragorn and Legolas... o.o  
*gets hit by muses to work on chapter 5* Hai hai!  
"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
*...* emphasis  
{...} Author's comments  
_______________________________________________________________________

Heero stared into the polished piece of silver that people called a mirror. He eyed his reflection carefully and made a decision.

With a deep glare he walked outside the room that was given to him as he was freed and glared at Trowa, who was just sitting outside. The uni-banged young man didn't flinch the slightest bit though; he knew the glare wasn't meant for him but for the one who was responsible for the shorthaired man's clothes.

"There is *no* way in both Taiyou's and Hisakata's name that I am going to wear *this* tonight!"

Trowa looked at Heero's expression first, a look of him being about to kill somebody if he or she said something wrong, and then his clothes. A short tunic, that didn't even go down to his knees, being held together on his shoulders by two golden buttons was the only thing that the brown-haired man wore.

He looked at the lower hem of the tunic and said with a very expressionless face, "You're right, it's too short." Then a grin spread over his face and he walked over to the slightly shorter man. He only stopped as he towered slightly over the other one.

Heero stared back, Prussian blue eyes widened in surprise as Trowa's hand sneaked below his tunic. Too shocked to do anything for a second, he felt a calloused hand move up on his bare thigh, too close to his almost exposed jewels than he wanted it to.

"Too easy to get down there," said Trowa with a smirk and pulled his hand away. He grinned even more, as he took in the burning red of Heero's cheeks and how his hands went down to cross over his groin in some kind of instinct.

"Don't ever do that again!" growled Heero and tried to will away as well his blush as a tingling feeling a little lower. He knew that Trowa would have burst out laughing, if he were any other man, but his grin was embarrassing enough.

Trowa felt pity for his friend.

"I've seen some strange pants somewhere and I believe that it was Catherine had a pair of those," he supplied. "Shall I go and fetch them for you?"

Heero glared more at him.

"I'd be happier if I didn't have to wear this thing at all, but Relena wants it."

"I'll be back in a moment."

Heero sighed and sat down on a stool of stone and buried his head in his hands. About 3 months had passed since he had been kissed by this strange woman. And since then those dark blue, slightly violet eyes ceased to get out of his mind. In fact this feeling had evolved into some kind of obsession, he couldn't go anywhere without subconsciously looking for this mysterious girl. But he didn't see her anywhere. Not on the market, not in the slums where he had forced Trowa to go with him.

The taller one had looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Secretly Heero agreed with him, for nobody from the upper classes, not even their slaves, went to the outer circle of the city, if not to get something illegal, like drugs or claiming slaves for themselves.

But they didn't find her.

It seemed as if she had fallen down from heaven down to Atlantis only to kiss him and then vanish as quickly as she came. Heero was sure he had seen any other inhabitant of the circular city more than once in those eleven weeks, but not the one he was really looking for.

He sighed again and looked up at the white wall in front of him.

He had done everything to distract himself from brooding over the chestnut-haired girl, which had made Relena extremely happy. She took him out to the most extraordinary pieces, both from Temple supported and independent organizations, parties that he never wouldn't want to go to because he had to talk to people he didn't know or like and in his despair he even let her drag to the temple to attend the mass there. He almost fell asleep as the High Priest had sermonized for more than half an hour.

But Relena had been on the edge of her seat all the time, wherever they went. Especially at the masses: She seemed to absorb each tiny little word that was said during the sermon and was soon able to debate with the few disciples that she could get a hold on about things not even they knew. In Heero's opinion she would have been better off by becoming a member of the Temple than becoming his wife to rule the Peacecraft's businesses. She wasn't the one that would fit into being a ruler, too. The girl was way too nosy and interested into some things; she would have gotten into trouble before somebody knew her.

Heero's feelings hadn't changed for her; in fact he may have gotten even colder to her than before while he put all his passion into the search for his mysterious girl. He would do what ever you told him to do, but inside he only wanted to talk to the heaven-sent girl. And if it would mean the end of the world to him!

Before Heero could go any further into this thought, Trowa returned with some black cloth in his hand and handed it over.

"My sister said, you are supposed to put your legs into the two tubes and pull it up to your waist."

"Thank you, I will try it on."

He disappeared back into his room and put the strange pants on. They were tight, really right and hugged every curve of his body like the air around them. It would look strange if he wore them alone, but with this extremely short green tunic it looked okay. But more importantly, it felt better than without the pants.

Content with himself he walked out of his room and past Trowa, not even bothering to ask his opinion anymore.

Trowa sighed at the sudden change of behavior. Not that he wanted to put his hand down Heero's tunic again, thank you very much, he had a cute little angel for himself for about a month now, a blond slave of one of Lady Relena's friends, but he would have felt better, if could have talked to him.

He took a look around and narrowed his eyes as he saw a crack in the mirror in Heero's room. Since that fateful day on the market, the amount of broken glasses has increased massively around Heero. Luckily for the stoic man, Trowa was always near him to clean up the shatters after him. Up to now he didn't really have the heart and time to tell the one responsible for it about his suspicions about what he thought was the reason for this. And tonight he was going out without him.

Trowa didn't have a good feeling about this.

.oOo.

"Have you found out anything?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"The child of the God and the Goddess is distinguishable by its eye-color."

"What color is it?"

"A dark shade of blue, High Priest. The records even say it's violet."

"Very well. Send the Shuhan a message, the guards shall look for somebody with violet eyes."

.oOo.

Duo was happy. He had lived with a rich man the last few days who paid him much for warming his bed and his heart until his wife returned from visiting her mother and now he was well-fed, had some money in his pockets, but most importantly, he was free. It was a shame though that he couldn't go back there.

As a last thing of gratitude that man let him into his club tonight, which held a party for rich and popular people. His only reason to go there was to find another person he could disburden of their money, but if he could have some fun flirting and dancing with beautiful wealthy women or men, he'd be okay with that as well. Maybe his out fit would help, too.

He was wearing some black loose pants, a black open vest that showed off his abs and well-trained chest. Also he was wearing a golden necklace with a ruby cross that was a present from his last toy, as he used to call the people he was staying with.

Right now he was on the big floor in the middle of the room, dancing to the music of this strangely rouged and clothed group. They wore brightly colored leather all the way, which looked more like some long ropes that were wrapped around their bodies, and maybe that was the case, too. But they made good music, had some great lyrics and Duo just liked to dance to them. He hoped that they would get famous one day soon.

He was moving around some bodies, always looking out to the sides of the dance floor for potential candidates that could feed him over the upcoming time. His heart almost leaped when he saw a girl of about his age sitting on a table for two, all on her own. She seemed quite self-confident and looked around as if she was searching for somebody.

The longhaired young man grinned to himself and strolled over to her. She had long sand-colored hair, not as long as his though, wore a long and expensive looking white tunic and had a silver bracelet around her wrist. Duo could tell she was wealthy but she didn't look arrogant as most of the people he knew.

He flopped down in the empty seat in front of her and put his brightest grin on his face.

"Lady, I never thought grace and beauty could incarnate perfectly as one person. But you have proven me wrong."

Her first reaction was staring, the next blushing. Duo's grin grew a little wider as he patted himself on the shoulder for having a charm that worked miracles with both women and men.

He gave her time to recover a bit and then asked her what her favorite drink was. Her response was a sweet, almost shy smile.

"It's the one that this handsome young man is carrying in his right hand."

Duo blinked and whirled around in his chair, just to see a grim looking guy with two drinks in his hands standing next to him. He gasped because he instantly remembered where he had seen that guy first. It was the one that he kissed to get away from Hilde.

But he didn't seem to remember him. Duo considered this as his luck but the look he was given.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he said with a tone that could have turned Taiyou into ice.

Duo tried to pretend he was cool. But inside he was in turmoil. He had thought that this guy meant nothing to him, but as he saw him again, his heart was beating so loudly that he could have joined the band as a drummer.

"I was just talking to this beautiful young lady. And who are you? The bodyguard of this innocent beauty?" he said with a grin and winked in the girl's direction, who promptly blushed.

Cold-as-ice just looked at him. "I am her fiancé."

"Oh," was the only thing that Duo could say in response to the dead-pan answer. He scrambled out of the seat and bowed low. "I am sorry to disturb you." He hurried off, without looking back, launching himself onto the next provocatively clad woman in sight.

Heero saw that woman smile and giggle and draw his eyebrows closer together. Something was nagging on him about that person and he didn't know what it was. He disliked everything about that guy, his clothes, his way of talking to people, the way his hand wandered to that woman's ass, and most of all not the long braid that made him look like a girl. A man who acted like a man should have short hair.

Heero watched that guy a little longer and almost gagged as he abandoned the woman for a guy who looked like he had money enough to build his own city. The guy with the braid was pressing himself against him, smiling sweetly and kissing him lightly on the cheek, worse than a woman.

"I don't like this kind of person," he murmured as he sat down and handed Relena her drink. For himself he had only bought a glass of water.

Relena took a sip from her fruit-drink. "I thought he was nice."

"Hn."

It didn't even occur to Heero that he was thinking about the girl from the market again as he let his eyes wander over the slender, barely clothed body with the long chestnut braid.

_To be continued..._  
_______________________________________________________________________

Next chapter: The reunion! (hopefully... o.o)


	6. The Morning After

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 5/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive:   
  
  
  
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing. Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
I'm sorry I didn't get to where I wanted this chapter to move... I hope you like it anyways.  
*gets hit by muses (again) to work on chapter 6* Hai hai!  
  
"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
_______________________________________________________________________

Duo climbed over the roofs of Atlantis to a special house. He was as silent as a fish in the sea, but if he could, he would have screamed loudly. He was upset, and he didn't really know why.

After a few more jumps he finally reached his destination on top of one particularly big house and he leaned down to knock on a window.

"Hey, Q-ball," he whispered. "Are you there? Q-man!"

The long-haired man heard some rustling on the other side of the window and felt his braid fall down over the edge as a blond young man opened the golden shutters. The blond head looked around in confusion for a while before he saw the chestnut rope right next to him and looked up into almost violet eyes.

"Duo! What in the God's names are you doing here this late!?"

The man in question just grinned down at the shocked and tired face. "I needed to talk, Quatre. I think I'll explode any second now."

'Well, please don't do it on the roof of this house please,' thought Quatre but only sighed as he sat down on the window sill, so that he was facing Duo. He knew his friend just needed somebody to vent his anger about some girl or guy who treated him badly or not as good as he had hoped. "What happened?"

Propping his chin on his hands, the other young man stared off into the distance started to give air to his thoughts.

"Q, you know about this guy I was staying with recently, the one with the club right? Well, he let me in there since this was the last night he'd ever see me and guess who I met? That guy I kissed the other day."

"Who?" Quatre almost meeped as a dark glare hit him. "I'm sorry to ask, but I have other businesses as well, don't you remember? I can't recall everybody you kissed by just one sentence... I need a little more details," he almost pleaded although he didn't really want to know.

"That guy on the market, that I kissed to get away from Hilde, the one who looked like the lost son of the God and the Goddess..." Duo trailed off as he thought that he had given enough description to his friend.

Who looked at him quite blankly as he said, "Oh! THAT guy!" Duo knew he didn't remember it, but he didn't care right now. He had more important things to say.

"Anyways, I was hitting on this really hot chick, long sand-colored hair, eyes like the ocean and a smile as serene as the play of waves against the shore, using my never-failing tactic of buying her a drink when she pointed to a guy behind me. And guess who it was?" he asked finally, looking at his friend expectantly.

"I have no idea," came the sighed answer.

"Quatre! The guy I kissed of course!" Duo almost cried out. "Don't you listen to anything I say?"

The young man in question jerked at the loud accusation and quickly apologized. Duo scolded him for a few more moments but then continued with his story as if nothing had happened.

"Anyways, he was standing there, in this REALLY short green tunic that showed off his gorgeous legs and almost more if it hadn't been for this... skin-tight loincloth-thing pants and I thought, 'Hey, you kissed him. He should remember you and say something about it', but guess what he did? He GLARED at me! Glared at me for hitting on his fiancée! Can you believe it? Once I find the one guy who manages to take my breath away whenever I see him, he's betrothed to one of the richest women in all Atlantis! This is just MY luck!" Almost panting now, Duo was now talking in rage. "How come that the Gods don't like me? How come I am the one they use as a ball to kick around like stones? Why can't I be rich? Why haven't I been born into a family that had money? Why do I have to live on the streets?"

Quatre had been listening for quite some time but now he interrupted the tirade of his friend. "Duo... Duo. Duo! Stop it! Don't tell me you would want to live in a house for all your life!"

Blinking for a second, the one on the roof stopped his ranting. "What has that got to do with anything?"

The blond sighed. "Listen, if you wanted to be born into a family that had money, you would have searched for one long ago. But did you stay with one single person longer than a month or two?"

"No... but..."

Quatre interrupted him again. "Listen to me now, please? You don't want to have a stable home. You need the adventure of finding something new every day and THAT's the reason why you live on the streets, fighting for money, food and a living every day. Don't tell me you don't enjoy your life!"

Panting now, his cheeks flushed from his outburst the blond looked up at the now stunned vagabond. Dark blue eyes blinked once in surprise that Quatre stood up to him, then again about he just heard. He was too stunned to say anything as he was carefully contemplating what the blond had just wanted to make clear.

"I'm sorry, Duo... But I don't think you could ever find somebody who stayed with you longer than two periods of the moon. And not because he or she didn't want to... no, because you would flee from their home before you could let them get close to you."

A new bolt of rage shot through the braided man. "That is NOT true! I DO let people get close to me! I just find them boring after a while!"

"Duo... you are lying to yourself. Let's take Hilde as an example."

"But she wanted to make me her slave!" protested the chestnut-haired one on the roof.

"That's not the matter," the blond waved him off. "She wanted you to be close to her and what did you do? You fled. You couldn't stand the thought of being you two being more than a nice diversion for each other, could you? You would have done anything to get away from her, wouldn't you? That's the reason why you kissed that guy. If you had kissed him for any other reason than that, I am sure he would have remembered you. Besides, it's not that bad being a slave."

During the blond one's lecture, Duo had gotten very quiet. He wanted to scream out that this wasn't the truth, that he was indeed able to stay with somebody longer than two months, that he wanted to get close to people, but then it came to his mind that he wanted to be close only to one particular person, his one and only true love, the one who could silent this fire inside him and whose fire he could silence. But he had yet to meet that someone, did he?

Somewhere along his thoughts he started to wonder why this guy from the market was making him so upset. At first he had thought it was some kind of pride-thing that made him want remember him, but then he felt a silent yearning in his heart that wanted to know the stranger's name, his opinion about life and the cosmos and most of all, he wanted to feel how his body felt against his as they were exploring each other's skin. This was something though that had to wait until another day - 'Or forever,' Duo thought grimly as he remembered that guy's coldness and the disgust he had seen in his eyes as he saw him watch him flirt with another young man with exotic almond black eyes and a short tight black pony-tail, dressed all in white, which was a pretty contrast to his own clothes. But the long-haired man was drifting away in his train of thoughts.

"Quatre... what you say is bullshit. And I'm going to prove you wrong," he said all of a sudden, startling the slave, who was lingering in his own thoughts. "I'm going to find that guy and if I have to turn Atlantis upside down, but then I'll prove you wrong about... everything. And that guy will never forget my face again!"

Quatre on the other hand gulped and wasn't sure if he should be afraid of his friend or not as the little glimmer of malice in the violet eyes was making him shiver and break out in cold sweat.

"Uh... Duo... I think you are taking this a little too seriously," he stammered. "I didn't mean for you to go on a... hunt for this guy..." Secretly he felt pity for him.

"No, Quatre, I want to do this... I need to do this!" Duo said and jumped to his feet. "This is my mission! And Hisakata is my witness! I'm gonna find this guy and make him apologize for his rudeness!"

With this he jumped to the roof of the next house and waved bye to his blond friend. "Thanks Q-ball for lending me your ear! See you later!"

"Wait! Where are you going?" Quatre shouted to hold him back.

"I'm going to find some place to sleep and then I'll start my search on the market place tomorrow. Don't worry I'll find him!" And off he went with a huge grin.

"And I have no idea what I did," murmured the blond young man who remained sitting on the window sill.

But not for long as it was only a few moments after he heard the voice of his lover calling him. He smiled to himself and rushed to open the door for him. May Duo do what ever he thought was necessary for his well-being, Quatre had everything he wanted.

.oOo.

Heero was upset, more than upset, he was downright furious. Just because that damned club didn't have more stable glasses, he was charged the bill of paying for a new set of the most outrageous beakers one had ever seen, just because it was a nightclub. Relena had given them their address though and everything was fine, but Heero was furious with himself and the waiters in that establishment that they blamed him for being the cause of all the mess. Which he wasn't, he didn't even touch that one glass that exploded to his left as he saw how that long-haired idiot stuck his tongue down another man's throat. And not even that other glass to his right that burst into tiny little pieces as Heero caught the sight of a long chestnut braid disappearing into a secluded area from which he had seen people emerging with flushed faces and their clothes in disarray earlier. It could not have been him. The beakers were just not made good enough.

"Heero... it is okay..." he heard Relena whispering silently as she tugged at his arm.

"No, it is not. You had to pay for something that was caused by me, even if I have no idea how," he said back, the anger clearly audible in his voice.

"I have no idea either, but don't think about it anymore, please?" she begged and jerked closer to the brooding young man as another artificial light exploded next to her. "Ah!"

Their conversation had been like that all the way from the club and Relena bet the stars could make out her way if they looked down - a dark lane in a nice little conglomeration of light. Heero had been talking about this matter at the club non-stop and whenever he did, a light-bulb exploded next to them, making Relena suspect that he did this on purpose. It was even worse two corners ago, when two lampposts stopped working at once, which had Relena almost jump on her savior's back for safety. Something was wrong, very wrong, and it was her inquisitive nature that wanted to find out what it was. So far she had only determined that it had something to do with Heero.

.oOo.

"You won't believe what the mistress wanted Heero to wear," Trowa said, brushing a blond and sweat-soaked strand out of his lover's face. "A tunic so short, one would have thought he was still her slave!"

The blond's ears perked. "A short tunic? Which color?"

"Green, but why...?"

"Oh my Gods! Trowa! I KNOW who that mystery girl is your friend is searching for so madly!" Quatre exclaimed and bolted upright, almost knocking his taller lover out with a well-placed hit of his head on the other's chin. "You said, she had knee-long chestnut hair and eyes as dark as the night-sky?"

"Yes, but... who?" his lover stammered, shaking him on his shoulders.

"I can't say... Just tell your friend to go to the market place again tomorrow and look for her!"

"She will be there? You know her? Where from?" The words came out of Trowa's mouth faster than he could put them together.

"Please... don't ask, just do as I said and tell him, please?" Quatre pleaded with him, giving him his best puppy-eye look, which worked tremendously on his lover. Trowa forgot every protest and just hugged the slightly smaller man to his bare chest who snuggled closer to him almost immediately.

"Okay..."

.oOo.

The next morning wasn't any better than the previous night for Heero. Somebody must have drugged his water as he was feeling a very throbbing head-ache as soon as he moved more than the length of his hand. But his chores had to be done and it was better if he did them now or they would be still there tomorrow. And then he'd have to do the ones of tomorrow as well which meant the double amount of work on one day for one day spent lazily in bed. Besides, he couldn't sleep with that loud banging on his door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he murmured into his pillow before he got up and opened the door to his small room.

He was greeted by the sight of a flushed and panting Trowa.

"You have to go to the market today!" were the first words he was able to get out of his mouth.

Heero just looked at him unmoved. "Why? There is no shopping to be done today."

The slightly taller man took a deep breath. "I know! Just... go!"

The sleepy young man turned his back at his friend and was about to close the door. "Give me one good reason to do so."

Trowa was getting near to be frustrated. "Damn Heero! Just go! I heard that this girl who kissed you will be there today!"

"What!?!"

The mirror that was in Heero's room exploded all of a sudden and both men just had the fraction of a second to duck from the pieces. Nevertheless, they both got a cut somewhere.

Trowa was the first to recover.

"Yeah, and you better go before more of this happens."

Prussian blue eyes fixed emerald green ones and the owner simply nodded. Heero was starting to get scared of these accidents as well... and he somehow hoped it would be over if he met that girl again.

_To be continued..._  
_______________________________________________________________________

Next chapter: The reunion! This time for real. ^^;;


	7. The Reunion?

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 6/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive:   
  
  
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing. Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
*looks at muses who lie bound in the corner, glaring at the author* ^^;; I know you only wanted your best, but you two always work on the wrong stories! *glares at them*  
Anyways, it took me a VERY long time to update this and I wrote this completely on my new laptop, that I bought solely for writing... and as a failsafe-thing when my usual computer refueses to work. ^^;;  
Please don't hit me too hard.   
  
"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
_______________________________________________________________________

The market of Atlantis was just as busy as ever, and nobody paid much attention to what anyone else did. The only thing that mattered to them was their own business. Especially for one young man with a long chestnut braid and another one with short, very tousled dark brown hair.

The first one stood, rather milled among the people, his self-conscious outwards betraying the turmoil inside of him. Unseen, he snatched up an apple, chewing almost furiously on it as he remembered his discussion with his best friend the previous night.

'I'm going to prove you wrong, Quatre, you'll see it!' he muttered inside of his mind almost as some kind of mantra as his eyes scanned the people that were on the market. But he didn't spot the one he was searching for. Not yet, that is.

Said one was just approaching the market, followed closely by his uni-banged friend. He was wearing the same clothes as the night before, for the lack of enough time to change. The green tunic looked rather ragged and thus he looked more of a vagabond than the one who was searching for him. In fact he didn't even really know why he was there, just that he was about to meet the one he had fallen madly in love with.

'There you are...'

Duo's look became predatory and he threw the remnants of his apple away, just before he closed in on his prey. Heero on the other hand didn't know what happened to him. Just one heartbeat ago, he had been looking around frantically for a long flowing mane of chestnut hair and a pair of amethyst eyes and now he found himself in the close embrace of somebody who strangely resembled that person he was looking for, but was definitely male as he could easily tell by the flat chest that was pressing against his.

The worst thing about it was though: the twin of his mysterious dream-girl was kissing him flat on the mouth as if there was no tomorrow. And by the way the ground was starting to shake under him, he could not even say if it wasn't going to be the last day of Atlantis.

Rage was slowly building up inside of him as this stranger continued to kiss him, almost desperately. But also something else opened up inside of him, realization of who this stranger was. There was something strangely familiar about him, something his heart knew, his body knew better than his brain did and that it hit him: This was the girl that kissed him indeed, all these weeks ago at maybe even the exactly same place, but he couldn't really face the fact that his girl... was a boy!

Duo felt surprised that this guy didn't react in the slightest way to him. He kissed him with all his effort, pulled each and every register, but there came no reaction back. So he slowly backed away to look at the one he had searched for... maybe for all his life, as he realized just then. He somehow realized that this wasn't just some kind of prank, another affair on his list, but his mate for life. That made it hurt more that this beautiful man didn't acknowledge him. So when he finally pulled away tears shimmered in his eyes.

Quatre had been right. He couldn't stay with one person. He was bound to be a loner for his whole life, because his life mate rejected him. Duo had been so sure this would work out, that this man had seen just what he had seen, but obviously it wasn't the case. So he slowly turned away to hide the tears that were threatening to flow freely over his cheeks. And was even more surprised to feel a gentle, but calloused hand on his face.

"Are those for me?" The most beautiful male voice Duo had ever heard asked, a little softer than he had expected, but still a little coldly. If he pretended really badly, he could almost imagine seeing a smile on the stranger's face that was slightly lit by Taiyou's golden rays. Yes, he had to be the lost son of the Gods! Who else could be as ethereal as this man?

He blinked and then suddenly gathered that he was asked a question and slowly managed to nod. And to his surprise the gentle touch on his cheek continued.

"I... I thought... I thought you were a girl," Heero finally managed to say, smiling the most sheepish smile he ever did in his whole life. "I... could have never imagined... having this kind of feelings for..."

"...for a man?" Duo helped him out. "Well, mister, you really freaked me out last night with the stunts you pulled, just because I had a nice evening with my good friend Wufei..."

"I freaked YOU?" Heero snapped back, a little hurt in his pride at least. "By the gods, you have been sticking your tongue down his throat right for everyone to see!"

"Well, I'm sorry sir, but I didn't know you were a goddamned homophobe!" The long-haired man snapped back, his arms locked tightly around the other's neck still though.

"I am..." 'NOT!' Heero wanted to spit back, but somehow the word caught in his throat. He knew well that he had acted like one, maybe even worse, but now he knew that he had only been jealous. "Well, not anymore," he finally admitted, as an urge, that was older than himself, made him lean down and seal those bickering lips on his own now.

Duo gasped, totally taken aback by the sudden kiss, but he was quicker to get his wits back than Heero. Taking his chance now, he grabbed the short-haired man's head and pulled him closer, letting him nibble at his lips. While his hand dug deeper into that tousled dark mane, he felt how the other's hand came around his back and made a grab for his braid, that was still firmly in place. Heero held onto it as if it was the only thing that would keep him sane, while everything around them started to blur into nothingness. Time was eternal and so was this moment, at least for them and not even the noise around them could disturb them. But everything came to an end, much too soon for Heero's taste as his love was suddenly pulled away from him.

Duo gasped as strong hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away from something he didn't want to stop. He protested, kicked back and tried to bite the hands that held him back. His lover, who was able to see who was separating them, froze though as he realized who it was.

Long white robes with golden and silver emblems, these men were unmistakably the royal guards. What might they want from a simple vagabond, a sad dog? Then a man with a golden helmet moved over to stand in front of the long-haired young man with the remarkably violet eyes and examined just those. He nodded to his men afterwards and said out aloud, for everyone to hear, "You are arrested for posing as a threat to the stability and safety of Atlantis. You will be informed of your rights in the cell, but unless we can be shown different evidence you are going to be kept away from the rest of Atlantis for the rest of your pitiful life."

"What?!" two voices cried out in unison, although they had just had their first real conversation.

"Your services are needed by the people of Atlantis and it is your duty as a citizen to fulfill them. One word in refusal and you will be executed," the same guard said maybe even more coldly than before.

Duo just stared at him totally shocked, eyes as wide as saucers, while his gaze stayed transfixed on the almond-shaped Prussian blue eyes. The tears had left salty traces on his cheeks and it almost managed to break Heero's heart when a sad glance hit him along with the sudden realization that he didn't even know this young man's name.

"What's your name?" he called out as the guards dragged his love away from him.

Although Duo had ceased struggling so that he would not be harmed any further, he still didn't act much like he was going to come with the Royal guards completely freely. In fact, he didn't move any muscle. But then he opened his mouth.

"Duo! I'm Duo!!" he yelled desperately, hoping that whoever this guy was that he would find a way to get him out of whatever shit he had gotten himself in. But then, his perfect mate disappeared among the people of Atlantis as the guards continued to drag him away.

.oOo.

"...Duo..."

On Heero's tongue this name tasted as sweet as honey, spicier than pepper and lovelier than his favorite dish. And he knew for a fact that there was nothing that could separate them, even if it looked just like this right now.

"Duo."

As a matter of fact he felt rather funny right now. His blood was boiling inside although his fingers and toes were as cold as ice and he had a strange itching feeling right at his shoulder blades. Trowa, who had been standing just behind him, witnessing the whole drama from the kiss to the interruption by the guards and he felt how a very bad feeling made the hair on his neck stand on edge with every new event. Thus he wasn't very surprised to feel the ground shaking.

"Heero... calm down.... please...."

"Duo!"

Dark clouds started to cover the else perfect blue sky over the city of Atlantis as the green-clad man's aura became almost visible from the tension, that seemed to manifest as blue lightning around his body. The people around him sensed that of course and took several cautious steps back so they thought they could pretend they were safe. But Trowa knew better.

"Duoooooooooo~!"

As Heero started to yell, started to scream out his pain over the loss of his love, maybe of his hope, too and the ground shook. It wasn't one of the little instabilities that the people of Atlantis encountered with almost everyday, but a very serious earthquake, that managed to bring the people on the market almost immediately to their knees as they tried to stand their ground. It was as if a volcano had just erupted right under their feet, but Trowa was the only one who realized at once, what the cause for this: Heero's rage.

In fact, he wasn't even sure if this was still the serious young man he used to call his friend. He wasn't sure either what he saw right now, but one thing was for sure: Things were not what they used to be like. Heero had changed, massively, if one might say so, and the world wasn't going to be same. This earthquake might have been only the beginning and even though Trowa was no prophet, he didn't want to be around when the main even took place.

Taking a deep breath the tall man steeled himself and made his way over to the furious person who was yelling his heart out. Carefully he reached out and winced slightly as blue light hit his fingertips and hurt like the magic of electricity that was used in their household, but he didn't back away and touched Heero's shoulder lightly.

"Heero... please stop... and let's go home... Miss Relena will find a way to help you out with this.... I'm sure," he said as softly as he could with a raging... monster facing him. Heero could not be described as anything else. His eyes were gleaming with a deadly greenish light that looked absolutely unnatural to him. He swallowed hard, but yet again he held his ground against this mysterious thing his friend had turned into. "Heero... come back... just for now," he begged almost desperately.

Studying the other for a good handful of heartbeats, the threatening part of Heero's new aura slowly started to fade. "I will get him back. He is mine and belongs to nobody else," he growled with a deadly tone that made Trowa's blood freeze in his veins while the last unnatural shimmer in his eyes faded away.

Then he collapsed.

.oOo.

"Heero! Oh, Heero! Are you... Is he okay?" Relena asked the slave that was carrying her fiancé home, while trying to wipe away the tears that were staining her already dirty cheeks.

The earthquake that the now unconscious young man had been responsible for hit his home maybe the hardest. It had crumbled down to its bases, burying mostly furniture underneath it, but also the lord of the house. Mr. Darlian was dead thus making his daughter and Orphan and the head of the family.

"Hardly," Trowa replied curtly as he looked for a place to put his burden down. Although he was quite strong and even extremely scary, Heero was almost as light as a feather and it had been no problem for the almost equally built green-eyed man to carry his friend home. But he was pretty sure that Heero would not like what he saw.

He didn't ask though what happened. It was pretty clear, also because he knew that the reason for it was. So as Relena rushed to Heero's side, he took the time to check what had happened. Soon he knew every horrible detail and returned to the girl with his head hanging down in grief.

"Miss Relena... I am sorry."

"Thank you, Trowa," she said, her voice more stable than he would have expected while she looked down on the still unconscious Heero.

"If I can do anything for you..."

"You're free," he was interrupted by her voice before he could even offer his services. "I free you. You and all the other slaves of the household. I... can't stand having a slave. I want people to live from their own free will."

"But milady," the green-eyed man started to protest, but was yet again interrupted.

"No. If you want to work for me, I'll gladly hire you as a servant for a decent fee and every right a free man or woman has in the city of Atlantis, but I will not accept that you turn me down on this," she said firmly, gently rubbing the cheek of the man in her arms.

Trowa was quiet for a few moments, but then nodded in consent. "I thank you, Miss Relena."

"Please... just call me Relena," she murmured while she studied her fiancé's face. "He doesn't love me, now does he?" she asked almost sadly.

After a moment of consideration Trowa shook his head. This young woman deserved to know the truth, even if it was painful to her, but he didn't want her to pretend something that could never be true, to take refuge in her own little dream world.

"No."

Nodding, she replied, "I will free him from his oath, too. Although my father freed him from being a slave, he was still bound to this place although he felt nothing for it. I am not blind, he didn't feel anything around here," she explained. "But yesterday... when we were in this club... he acted so differently... emotionally. And although I don't like the turn of events, it is better for him to follow his heart... and nothing else."

Sadly looking down at Heero, who still showed no sign of waking up, she sobbed in one breath before she leaned down to kiss his cheek, a single tear flowing over her cheeks. "I love you. But I'll let you go. You're free... free to do whatever you want."

And this finally managed to make Heero wake up. He blinked in confusion and looked around to see where he was, but then realization and the memory of the past few moments kicked in.

"Where is Duo?"

_To be continued..._  
_______________________________________________________________________

*grabs Akuma's obviously discarded gundanium turtleshell and hides*


	8. The End of Atlantis

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 6/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive:   
  
  
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing. Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
So... this is the end. Literally. The grand finale. I only have a the epilogue after this. Please enjoy.

"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
_______________________________________________________________________

Trowa stared down to where Heero was almost glaring up at Relena and admired the girl for her strength not to flinch the slightest bit at this look.

"Hush, Heero... calm down, please..."

This mysterious blue aura started to shimmer again, while Heero used that new strength to sit up and free himself of the gentle embrace. In the distance Trowa could hear some kind of growling of the earth, as if it was preparing another earthquake.

"Where is Duo?"

"I... don't know..." the girl answered meekly, as she was starting to get a little scared of her ex-fiancé's behavior. She ducked though when his glare intensified, looking at her as if she was supposed to know what was going on when he didn't.

"The royal guards took him, Heero," Trowa interrupted, being the only one who knew about the events on the market just a few moments ago. "They said they wanted to put him into prison for being a threat to the city of Atlantis. I have no idea though where he is now."

"Please, Heero, calm down. I'm sure we will find a way to free him..." Relena pleaded silently from where she was still sitting on the ground.

The green-clad boy in question turned his gaze away again and stared out to the distance as if he was listening out for the wind that was telling him stories about his lost love. And maybe it even was as blue eyes narrowed in grim understanding and made the owner make a step forward.

"I know where he is."

And with that he was gone. From one moment to the next he was out of sight, not seen anymore as if he had fallen to ashes right before Trowa's and Relena's eyes. But even for vanishing like that he was gone faster. One blink ago he had been standing there, right before them but now... he was gone without a trace of his whereabouts. Relena blinked incredulously, rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

"Heero? Heero! HEERO! Where are you??!"

Trowa was just as taken aback, but he didn't bother yelling for his friend. "Unbelievable... Love DOES move mountains..." he gasped as he tried to understand what was going on in front of his own eyes.

"Huh?"

Emerald green eyes fixed on cornflower flue ones that were staring up at him in confusion. "This Duo... he's Heero's life mate. He... has been searching for him for... well, definitely his whole life, but now... it has been four months..." the tall one voiced his thoughts, "I think, this was the day when these strange... things started to happen around him... the day when Duo kissed him unexpectedly on the market..."

This only managed to confuse Relena more, although she now understood Heero's motives better. All this recent emotional display... it had been for this guy. Anybody who managed to do this for Heero deserved her utter respect.

Slowly she moved to stand on her feet once more, willing away the vulnerability of a young woman as she stared into the direction Heero had been staring to before he vanished. To Trowa she looked stronger, wiser even than the girl he used to know.

"Is that so? Well, then... I'm going to help him." With that she started to walk.

.oOo.

Underneath the mountain in the middle of Atlantis, the Shuhan and the High Priest stared at the huge generator that was left there by the gods.

"We've found him... and it's still working..." Treize murmured as he wondered how much of this construction was decoration and how much of it was really needed for it to be working. By the way it was hidden though and how everything seemed to be moving there was probably only a minimum of decoration.

Zechs, who stood out of touching range, nodded thoughtfully before he said, "Maybe it's even safe to bring him here... To make him see what his parents created..."

Finally Treize managed to turn his gaze away from the machine that was fueled by the Tuaoi-Stones ever since the gods had installed them there. "Don't you think that would be too dangerous?"

"I don't know. But it has to be made sure that he really poses a threat to Atlantis before he is going to be executed."

Looking at the religious leader for a while, the Shuhan nodded after a while. "I just hope we're not going to make a grave mistake."

The platinum blond head next to him nodded. "Me too."

.oOo.

"What is that supposed to mean? The Shuhan's not in? Where is he? He should take care of his people instead of hiding!"

Relena stared at all the people that had gathered at the palace entrance. People with crying babies in their arms, bleeding people, old people, young people, men, women... just every kind of people that you could imagine. Somehow this made her high spirits sink.

"How am I supposed to make my way past all these people?" Relena wondered out aloud and sighed. Then she took a deep a breath, gathering enough strength to tell herself that she was going to talk to the Shuhan in person about Heero, no matter how impossible it seemed to be.

"This Duo will be freed... For Heero's sake and the sake of Atlantis!"

.oOo.

"Lady Noin... There's somebody who wants to speak with you..."

"Tell them to come back later, I have more important things to attend to," the purple-haired woman said as she tried to make up a list of all the people out there, making up an order that would be okay with everybody. She knew it was a futile thing, but she did it nevertheless.

"But... they say it's important..."

Noin sighed. "Everybody thinks their causes are important. What's their name?"

"It's Lady Relena, milady. She says she knows what angered the spirit of the earth."

This made the short-haired woman look up with here eyes open wide. "What did you say?!"

.oOo.

Duo kicked and complained loudly as he was half carried, half dragged out of his rather comfortable cell by two obviously mute guards.

"Hey! Where are you taking me?! Hey!! HEY!!!"

The braided boy pouted as he didn't get any answer in return. Thus he resumed not saying anything as well, and stopped trying to walk too, because he was getting where he was supposed to be anyways. He just wanted to know why!

The way the guards took was long, very long. And it got steeper and steeper with every moment as they left. Duo felt how the air got hotter too as they left the polished halls of Atlantis and walked into something that looked more like a cave or something. In fact it was something like a cave, a huge lair with a huge stone column in the middle that was adorned by metallic bulges. It was the pillar of Atlantis.

But Duo didn't know this. He just knew that this thing was big, that it looked different to everything he had seen before and that it was scaring him. He didn't know why, he just knew that he wanted to get away from it as fast as he could.

"What's this?! Let me go!! Ouch!"

He pouted as one of the guards practically threw him on the ground non to gently. Rubbing his backside he glared up at the cupboard-like man and scrambled back to his feet.

"Don't throw me around like I'm some kind of plaything!"

"Oh, but you are," a calm voice came from up above him. "You are fate's playtoy, nothing but an instrument in the big wheels of the universe."

Duo whirled around, trying to see who was talking so lowly to him. "What the...?!" He froze as he saw he was talking directly to the Shuhan. "Sh-Shuhan T-Treize?"

"Oh, you've heard of me? Well, an educated mongrel was always my favorite," he said as he took a few steps closer to the rail that separated him from the lower level of the circular lair underneath Atlantis. By looking down on the long-haired young man, he underlined their different status even more. Duo growled, not all liking that the Shuhan was making fun of him, but kept quiet nevertheless. There must be something that he wanted to express by this and Duo was much too nosy of what it was, especially since it seemed to be about him.

"What do you want from me?!" he spat out at last.

"What I want is simple... I want to proof whether you are the lost child of the God Taiyou and the Goddess Hisakata."

Duo snorted. "You think I am the one? I am just a street rat, who isn't able to stay in one place for longer than a month. I may appear like a liar, and am - as you noted so nicely - a mongrel. Don't you think that somebody more... godlike is what you are searching for?"

'Like Heero,' he added in his mind, now more than ever sure that the blue eyed boy was what he had thought him to be in the first place.

"Oh, but you are the only one who fits the description perfectly," Treize all but purred.

"What?! There are no-"

"Yes, there are. Hidden in the temple's library are the only descriptions of the lost child of the God and the Goddess," Treize interrupted Duo's protests. "The High Priest will be delighted to tell you more about it."

A new man came into view, tall and clad entirely in long white robes, with long platinum hair framing his face. Duo couldn't help but think that he looked sad.

"'If the time comes you will recognize my child', Hisakata confided to me, 'by its eye color... it will be that of the sky after the sun put on its nightgown, the color you get when you mix the color of my husband's eye and mine,'" Zechs recited what he read a few weeks ago. "This is a quote from the first High Priest's notes. He was known to be assigned to his duties directly by the God and the Goddess, passing his knowledge forth to the following generations. We know that Hisakata's eyes had the color of the night and that Taiyou's eyes were like burning flames. Red and Blue... Mix them and you'll get violet."

"But what has that got to do with me? My eyes are blue!"

The Shuhan raised his hand, waving his index finger. "Tsktsktsk... Have you never noticed that it's a very odd shade of blue? Not like the ocean or the sky... It's more like the sky of the late evening, just after the sun disappeared behind the horizon..."

Duo staggered back, the words hitting right home. "It can not be..."

Of course he knew that his eyes had an odd color, but most people thought he simply looked exotic and loved him for that... he would have never thought that THIS might lead people to thinking of him as the lost child because of that.

"Listen. I know you think you are the greatest - well, you are, else you wouldn't be the Shuhan and the High Priest - but... What I mean is... you are gravely mistaken! I cannot be the lost child of the-"

He was interrupted by one of the temple's disciples, who all but rushed to the pair of men. He was surprised when a female voice spoke up, but only because of the quick stance and her short hair.

"Shuhan! There's somebody in my office to whom you need to talk immediately!" The woman declared, not at least intimidated by the presence of the two most powerful men of Atlantis. She seemed to be around them quite often for that.

"Noin!" the platinum blond High Priest warned, but was waved off by the Shuhan.

"It's alright, Zechs, let her talk," Treize said calmly, knowing that it must be important if somebody dared to interrupt a meeting of this security level.

"Thank you, my Shuhan," Noin said breathlessly and inclined her head in a sign of subservience before she continued. "My guest claims to know what - or rather who - is the cause for the recent earthquakes. She demands to speak to you immediately and in person."

"My dear woman, I think we already..."

This time it was the Shuhan that was interrupted, but it was not by somebody voicing their thoughts, but by the sudden appearance of a being with large white wings and surrounded by a creepy blue aura that floated just under the roof of the lair. It was wearing a short and ragged looking green tunic with black shorts underneath, its tousled brown hair falling into a none-too-friendly looking face. Prussian blue eyes glared with a light from inside the body of their bearer at the people standing above the level where Duo stood.

"WHERE IS DUO?!"

The voice filled the room, against all laws of physics that Noin knew about, so loud that everybody but the long-haired young man fell to the ground, covering their ears. The ground shook and Noin feared that the cave would collapse any moment. She stared in disbelief at the person she believed she knew, but seemed to be so different now. The woman scrambled to her feet and hurried to the exit. Relena may be able to help them...

Meanwhile Heero was still floating in the air, sending his death glare to the people he believed that were responsible for his pain for taking Duo away from him. He was so enraged that he didn't even notice that the one he was searching for was standing right under him, staring up in disbelief.

"Hee... Heero? Is that you?"

The unnatural being blinked and its eyes became more human as they recognized the voice that just spoke to him. Heero - who was a lot like himself again - looked down and slowly floated towards the long-haired young man.

"...Duo? Duo."

Said one smiled and held his arms up, wide-open as an invite for Heero to land there. The other's gaze softened, a smile coming from his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the long-haired one in return, holding him tight. "I found you... I knew I would..."

"Yes, you did, Heero... Thank you..."

.oOo.

"Relena! You need to-"

"What happened?! Another earthquake-"

"You'll understand when you follow me! Come!"

Noin grabbed Relena's hand and guided her downstairs, deep under the surface of Atlantis, to where the happy reunion of a pair of young men took place...

"Heero! Oh my... Heero! You're alive!" The blonde exclaimed, happy tears filling her eyes. She ran forward until she was stopped by the rail, completely ignoring the Shuhan, who was giving orders to the guards and the High Priest, who stared at the whole scene in disbelief. "Heero!"

Duo looked up, blinking as he recognized the girl that had claimed Heero as her fiancé when they had met two days ago. He wondered briefly how she managed to get down here, but then he realized that she must be the one the other woman had talked about. He was about to open his mouth and say something when he suddenly felt two strong hands on his waist that pulled him away forcefully from his soul mate.

"Hey! Let me down!!! Hey!!!!!!"

"Don't let him go!" Treize shouted. "He is without doubt the son of the God and the Goddess. And don't let the other get near him as well! He's the planet's core and is very dangerous!"

Only then Duo noticed that the other guard was holding back Heero, keeping him in a steel-like grip, no matter how hard the other struggled. Somehow he knew that this wouldn't end prettily...

"What are you doing?!" Relena demanded after she whirled around to the Shuhan, sending him one of her own glares as she could feel the ground under her feet shaking once more. "Can't you see that these two need each other?!"

Treize decided not to scold the woman for her misbehavior as she was young and didn't know it any better. Instead he put his hands on her shoulder, giving her a serious look. "My young lady... I know you are concerned for these two young men, but let me tell you that they have the power to each save or destroy this world as we know it. Now get out of the way, I have a city to sa-"

"Are you blind or what's wrong with you?" Relena blurted out, brushing the hands from her shoulders as he held the Shuhan's gaze. "The ground is shaking every time you separate Duo from Heero, why don't you just let them stay together?"

Despite the fact that Treize was almost openly shocked by that behavior towards him, Zechs was more than impressed. That girl possessed a power that he would never have, even though they were from the same blood. Nobody but Noin knew it, but contrary to popular beliefs Zechs wasn't an only child. Granted, he was an orphan, but he had a baby sister that was adopted by a wealthy family while he was sent to the temple. He smiled lovingly at her before he turned to his disciples.

"Make sure that the child gets to take care of the controls of the shield then imprison the other," he ordered calmly, knowing from a sudden impulse that this was the needed course of action and that there was no way to prevail the doomed future anymore. Of course this caught Relena's attention.

"What in the Gods' names do you think you're doing?! This... this will SURELY be Atlantis' doom-"

"Will it?" Zechs gave back, as calm as a man who was prepared to die. "You will never know until you tried..."

"DUO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream cut the air, the ground shook and everybody fell to his feet. The guard who was carrying Duo to the strange device of the Gods just managed to push him inside and close the door behind him, effectively trapping him from the outside, before he fell to the ground as well, unconscious from the pain that came from his ripped eardrum.

"Heero!"

Duo pounded against the locked door, trying to get through, but of course he failed. After all he was just a simple human being. He could only watch how Heero's wings enfolded once more and how the blue aura returned. The ground shook mercilessly and everybody knew that this would be the end. The beast of the earth had decided.

.oOo.

Quatre pressed himself tighter to Trowa, squeezing his eyes shut as the ground shook and threatened to throw him off his feet. He was glad for the strong arms around his shoulders that led him forth to havens where everybody seemed to be hurrying to. While the inhabitants of Atlantis were fleeing from the city they wondered briefly where their leaders were. Neither the Shuhan nor the High Priest or any of the disciples were to be seen at the havens and several people wondered briefly if their departure wasn't a little too hasty. Maybe this wasn't the end...

All of a sudden though they saw a few people in white robes running to the white ships of the temple that only the most brazen people dared to step upon, escorting the Shuhan and a young blonde woman in their middle. Trowa's eyes widened as he recognized his ex-master and practically danced through the crowd to get to her.

"Relena! Relena!! Over here!"

The blonde head turned around and Trowa was shocked to see tears all over the girl's face. He doubled his efforts to get through to her. "Relena? What...?"

"Don't touch the High Priestess," he heard on of the disciples saying to him, pulling him away quite harshly.

"The what? Relena! What happened?! Where... Is Heero... Is he okay?" Trowa asked after he yanked his arm out of the disciples grip. He was shocked to see the woman shake her head.

"He... he's... dying.... we... we left them there... as the cave started to collapse," Relena choked out between her sobs. Trowa's gaze scrunched up in horror, close to grabbing the girl's shoulders once more to shake her, but refrained from it as the disciples were still too close to him. "But... What's up with the crap of you being the High Priest?!" he demanded, wanting to have his questions answered before he had to leave the place he called home, probably separated from the ones he loved and knew.

"My.... brother... Zechs.... The High Priest.... He was hit by a rock that fell down on him as we ran out of the cave... He.... he passed on his duties to me." Relena was still sobbing, still having the picture of her new-found brother lying underneath that rock, his lower body probably crushed into... she didn't even want to think about it. Too clearly she remembered his touch on her cheek, his smile as he kissed her and told her to pass on the knowledge of the God and the Goddess as the High Priestess at the new home of the Atlanteans.

She also remembered the serene look on Noin's face as she looked at the others while kneeling next to Zechs. The shorthaired woman had decided to die with the one she loved, just like Heero and Duo did...

Taking a deep steadying breath, Relena wiped her tears away and managed to smile at Trowa. "Come on. Let's start a new life and honor those that we love."

And with that she hauled him and Quatre on board of the last ships that left the sinking city of Atlantis.

This was the end, according exactly to the prophecies... The Angel of Death, the Beast of the Earth had risen and was calmed by Shinigami... by death.

_The End._  
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*grabs Akuma's obviously discarded gundanium turtleshell and hides*


	9. Epilogue

Title: Legend of Shinigami and the Angel of Death 6/?  
Author: Makiko Igami  
Archive:   
  
  
Category: AU, Supernatural  
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon...  
Pairings: It might take a whole chapter to put all in here... but main: 1x2  
Warnings: Yaoi, a bit angst, ... more to come  
Spoilers: Since this is AU... none.  
Summary: My version of the Legend of Atlantis, mixed with the characters of Gundam Wing. Heero is an ex-slave who is to marry his ex-masters daughter Relena. But one day on the market he meets somebody whom fate sent him...  
Notes&Comments: My first try on a AU... I always liked the legend of Atlantis... I kinda make my own one up here, it may not fit into the ones you know... And I don't know exactly what might happen further on...  
This. Is the end.

"..." spoken words  
'...' thoughts  
_______________________________________________________________________

Despite the noise that happened around Duo and Heero from the collapsing cave and all the stones that fell down, the chestnut-haired young man felt calm. Calm and at peace. Gently he stroked a few strands of dark brown hair from his soul mate's sleeping face.

"Heero... I promise you we will be together forever..."

The island of Atlantis sunk into the endless ocean. Nobody who was left there survived it. This was the end of the world as it had been.

.oOo.

__

'My son... you have returned to us,' a woman with long white hair and sparkling blue eyes said, smiling lovingly at Duo. Behind her stood a man with spiky jet-black hair and flaming red eyes, smiling just as lovingly at him. And within a heartbeat Duo knew that this were his parents, the Goddess Hisakata and the God Taiyou, symbols of the Moon and the Sun. He also knew that he was dead and that they were as well, but that he was meeting them in the after-life from where they had been watching him and guiding him ever so gently through all of his previous lives.

He smiled back, standing up from where he had been kneeling with Heero's head in his lap, ever so softly patting his hair. Never had he looked at the huge hole that was in his chest, the fatal wound that was his doing as Shinigami, calming the Beast with his eternal embrace. He knew that its rest wouldn't be forever, but it would be long enough so that he could hug his parents.

'Mother... Father...'

'My son... we missed you... but you were doing great on your own,' Taiyou said softly, his voice pure honey in the endlessly white realm.

'I... I felt so lonely....'

'You were never alone, my love,' Hisakata shook her head, embracing him once more. 'We were always with you...'

'I felt so complete when I found him...'

'I know, love.'

Carefully Duo freed himself of the embrace. 'Mother... I want to go back. I... I want to take care of the earth! I... want to meet HIM again...'

Blue eyes and red eyes looked at him in mild surprise. They had expected something like that, but not so soon.

'Is this truly your wish? You know you can meet him here as soon as he wakes up.'

Duo nodded almost unnoticeably. 'Yes. I want to go... and I'm sure he wants too. He had friends back there... so did I.'

Hisakata sighed. 'You know it won't be easy? You won't remember anything of your previous lives at first... and remember: when your power comes back to you, you may destroy the earth completely... and not just one island.'

'I know mother... but it's my wish.'

The white-haired woman sighed. 'Well, then... so be it.'

.oOo. _The year 195 AC_ .oOo.

"Oi Heero! Wait up!"

"Hn."

"Hey! We've been assigned to this together, so don't give me your cold shoulder!"

The other rolled his eyes. How could he be paired up with this moron of a pilot?

"Hey, even you need the help of Shinigami from time to time!"

Heero turned around and for a moment Duo was sure to see a blue light in his eyes. "I don't need the help of 'death'!"

The braided boy recovered quickly from his surprise. "Hey, I was just reminding me that not even Perfect Soldiers can do everything on their own. Come on! Let's get over with this mission and hope that peace will be restored soon!"

Hooking his arm under the other's he pulled the other with him, having a sudden feeling of knowing this guy for eternity... sensing that this was his soul mate and that they were destined to be together. He instinctively sought the other's proximity, knowing that Heero would be able to wipe out mankind entirely if there wasn't something that made him hold back, something that made him hesitate... somebody he cared for.

_The End._  
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Yep. That's the end. No more Atlantis in this storyline. ^^; I MAY do a continuation in another fandom, if it really strikes me, but this is it.  
Did any of you notice who Duo's parents were? I mean, probably not, it's not from the GW-fandom (though they look remotely like my muses. ^^;; ). But it's from my current obsession. ^_~  
Oh, I open this story-line for you to write it. Just send me notice if you do so... I'd highly appreciate it. ^_^


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